1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the field of food serving appliances. More particularly, it pertains to the field of disposable service items for receiving expandable food from a processing unit, such as popped corn from a hot-air type corn popper, and suitable as a food-serving container as well as a storage container for the unused portion thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Expandable foods such as popcorn are widely desired as a party snack or as a treat served in a bar or at a ball game. Where it is expanded in a commercial-size unit, such as the popular glass-enclosed kettle-type popper used in theaters and at circuses, the expanded corn is conventiently served in paper bags of various sizes and the uneaten corn is readily disposed of by throwing the bag in a trash receptacle.
However, when it is popped and served in the home, the convenience of the kettle-type popper and the disposable bags is unavailable, replaced with a small sized hot-air or other type corn popper and a serving bowl. Hot-air poppers circulate corn kernels in a stream of hot air such that, when the kernels pop, their billowed form and low specific gravity allows them to be blown out of the popper through a discharge chute and into a serving bowl. These type poppers have the singular annoying propensity of causing hot, unpopped kernels to be swept out of the unit with the popped kernels into the serving bowl, only to pop a few seconds later and jettison a lot of the popped corn out of the serving bowl onto the floor or into someone's face.
The uneaten corn rarely fills the serving bowl so that any that is stored in the refrigerator is either a small amount stored in a large bowl or stored in a smaller bowl thereby using twice as many containers thus increasing the demand on the dishwasher--whether mechanical or of the human variety.
The prior art has attempted to correct these problems by placing the kernels in an expandable folded pouch, either of metal foil for popping over the stove burner (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,425,845; 3,519,439; 3,671,270; and 3,969,535) or in a microwave oven (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,292,332 and 4,448,309). However, in each of these inventions, the popped corn is served right from the popping container and is greasy and often contains odorous residual oils that may stain one's hands and clothes.
The hot-air type corn-popper units, such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,059,567; 4,072,091 and 4,512,247, call for receptacles to be interconnected with their respective discharge chutes. However, while these may solve some of the aforesaid problems they are just another item to be washed and dried after the party and stored in the cupboard, to take up space until the next party. With housing costs rising and kitchen space at a premium, these extra bulky containers and servers are a decided inconvenience.